Firefly
by Sam-453
Summary: DA/Xmen crossover. DA time frame.-i'm experimenting!! theres now some author nots in the review section.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own any of X-men or Dark Angel. ('Cept Ella and Marie, cos I made them up!) But I wont get any money for it, so it doesn't actually make any difference….

Note: Hmm, another experiment. Please give it a chance. DA comes in properly next chapter. Please review. I put it in DA section cos I had to choose, and hey, I picked DA. So… enjoy

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My life has never been easy. Ah've spent it running, hiding, fighting and crying ever since Ah can remember. Ah try so hard to live up to my mamma's name, and to use my gifts to help those who are helpless. But it is so hard to live your life fighting to protect those who hate you for what y'are, even though they know damn well the people they want dead have saved their miserable lives more times than they can count. See, however you put it, people are always afraid of things that are different. A friend of my mamma's told me when Ah was a child something that has suck with me my whole life, whether Ah wanted it to or not:- 'with great power comes great responsibility.' Far as Ah see it, that's all well an' good 'til you realise that the responsibility is to people who'd rather see you dead. Right now Ah'm more concerned about keeping my ass alive and dealing with the people around me, who see me as my mamma's daughter. My responsibility is to them before anyone else, whether Ah want it or not.

The girl sighed deeply and headed back inside. She tied her thick, reddish-brown hair back in a rough ponytail and prepared to face the music. As she walked through the ripe smelling room, she felt her heart wrench at all the pain she knew these people had suffered. But still they held to the name of their predecessors. They still put their lives on the line just like her. She shook her head clear and entered the office at the end of the room.

            "Sarah, hey." she smiled. "How're we doing?"

            "Hey kiddo." The woman sitting by the window smiled at the girl she'd know since she was born. "Not so good I'm afraid. We need supplies, Rie. We need electricity, we need food… we need to find somewhere else." She sighed.

            "Ah know." The girl rested her head in her hands as she sat down. "But where? We have no one to help us… the institute is long gone… where can we go?"

            "I dunno. Sorry sweetie." The girl felt tears well in her eyes, but held them back.

            "Ah just wish… Ah wish Mamma were here." She breathed.

            "I know." Sarah moved to the girl's side. "We will find her, Marie, I promise." 

            "Ah know." Marie said. "But until then, all these people expect me to be as strong as her. But Ah ain't, Sarah… Ah never will be!" Sarah smiled slightly, as Maries voice, which was always tinged with her mother's southern accent, got thicker in her frustration.

            "Course you will. Your mother is an amazing person, Marie, and your father too, even though some would say otherwise. You have strong blood, kid, and I know you have her spirit. You'll do fine." Sarah squeezed Marie's hand. "So what do you want me to do, kiddo?" Marie sighed.

            "Ah… y'all will think this is dumb." Sarah shook her head and urged the young girl to continue. "Ah wanna check out these rumors we've heard, y'know, 'bout transgenics?" Sarah raised her eyebrows,

            "Aren't they just rumors, hun?"

            "Ah don't think so. Ah just wanna know for sure, k? Cos if it's true, then they'd be allies, Sarah; they might be able to help."

            "Ok." Sarah looked around. "It's damn dark in here, even for my eyes." Marie smiled.

            "Pass that candle." 

            "I don't have any matches." Sarah told her as she passed it to her. She saw a glint in the girls eye as she smiled again,

            "No matter." She set the candle on the table and clicked her fingers round the wick. A flame flickered to life in a spark of kinetic energy. "Thanks, Papa." She said quietly.

            A little while later, Marie left the small room, and looked around for the friend she'd agreed to take with her on her little reconnaissance mission. Seeing her on the far side of the next room, Marie called out to her,

            "Hey, Ella!" the dark haired girl looked up, grinned, and leapt across the room. As she took off, her entire body took on a transformation, using new muscles to propel her in an elegant arc to land at the feet of her friend. Then the huge panther melted back into human form.

            "S'up, Rie?" Marie chuckled at her friend and beckoned for her to follow her through to another empty room.

            "We gotta do something, El."

            "Excellent. What kinda something?"

            "Y'know what we were discussing earlier?"

            "Wicked! Sarah cleared ya?" Ella's eyes lit up in excitement.

            "Ah never needed her to clear it." Marie said.

            "I know… but you wanted her to." Marie smiled at her friends ability to read her.

            "Anyway. We head to Seattle at night fall."

            "Seattle!? That dump!? I 'least thought we'd go somewhere cool." 

Marie laughed,

            "That's where all this is s'posed to be going down, so that's where we go." Ella grimaced,

            "We taking the jet?"

            "Uh-uh. The others might need it." Ella groaned,

            "So we're going the other way then?" 

Marie grinned,

            "Oh yeah."

            "Why'd your Mum have to give you that too? Surely the strength and sh*t was enough? Why give a maniac that sorta power?" Marie elbowed her friend,

            "Hey! I am not a maniac!"

            "When it comes to _that_ you are." The two girls left, laughing together.

That night, dressed from head to toe in black, the two girls headed to the roof. Marie slung a large rucksack onto her back and put on her red-tinted shades. Ella tied back her hair and put on her shades too. She had on a permanent mocking frown. Marie giggled.

            "Ok, people. Fasten your seat belts and hold onto your asses. The nine O'clock flight from New York to Seattle is now ready for take off." Ella rolled her eyes and clipped on the harness that held her to Marie. She stood in front of her, facing away, and Marie wrapped her arms around her, saying, "Brace yourself girl, 'cos The Firefly just spread her wings." Despite all her moaning, Ella whooped loudly as they shot into the sky.


	2. Terminal City

Note: Ok, right now I can't promise anything about r'ships, but I'm not intending this to be 'ship base anyway, cept Rogue and Gambit of course. I probably won't make this Max/Alec cos I want to bring the virus in somehow. Any way, I don't know yet, just gimme a chance, k? Chapter 2 

            "So now we're here, what do we do?" Ella moaned. They'd been walking the desolate, post-pulse streets of Seattle for almost half an hour, with no particular direction. Marie shrugged,

            "Find 'em I guess."

            "Uh-huh. And if they don't exist?"

            "They do, I know it." Ella rolled her eyes.

            "Ok, then. But wandering the streets ain't getting' us nowhere. What are we supposed to do, go up to some one an' say 'hey, you know where we can find some transgenics?' Rie? What're you doin'?" Ella looked on as Marie approached a man on the pavement.

            "Hey, 'scuse me, but do you know where about's I could find some transgenics?" Ella proceeded to pretend to hit her head on a nearby wall. The man looked at Marie as if she was crazy,

            "What d'you wanna find transgenics for?" he asked gruffly, "Lil' gels like you should steer well clear."

            "We can look after ourselves. Where?" Marie said, looking into the mans eyes. The guy swallowed, seeing a steely resolve he didn't want to mess with.

            "Terminal City, about five blocks down. You can't miss it." He pointed down the street, and hurried off in the opposite direction.

            "Thanks!" Marie called after him. "Ella? What in blazes are ya doin' girl?" She grabbed her friend's arm and headed off down the street. "C'mon, we got ourselves a lead." 

            A few minutes later, they stood outside the proclaimed 'Terminal City'.

            "Looks like a dump." Ella pointed out. The Grey mass of run-down buildings behind the tall wire fences did not look exactly inviting. Very few people bothered to stand protesting outside any more. The National Guard had given up and gone home when they finally realised that the transgenics weren't going to do anything. People, as they do, had gotten bored of the hype, and moved on. "I think that dude was stringing you a tale, Rie." Ella said, frowning.

            "For his sake, I hope not." Marie answered, before dragging her friend into a nearby alley where they could leap the fence without attracting too much attention. They crept through the deserted streets, every hair on each of their necks standing upright. This place was creepy. Just as Ella thought she'd heard voices a little further in, people appeared on all sides, weapons raised at the intruders. The apparent leader, a tall, reptilian looking man, with a large cigar in his mouth, and a shotgun in his hand, spoke gruffly,

            "Who the hell are you, and what do you think you're doing here?" Marie swallowed, as some part of her mind said, 'well I was right about them being real'. Then she spoke out loud.

            "Whoa, whoa, ok? We could in peace, and really don't wanna end up in _pieces_. So lower your weapons, y'all."

            "Not until you answer my question."

            "Name's Firefly. This is Tera. We wanna speak to someone in charge." The reptilian man frowned at the names, but gestured for them to follow him. They were led deeper into the complex, where the voices got louder, and the two girls felt their eyes widen as they saw hundreds of people camped out in the bowels of the 'city'. They followed the man, who every one referred to as Mole into a nearby building and through what appeared to be a control room. The transition from the outskirts of T. city to this was incredible. Although everything was still drab and worn out, it was bursting with life, and seemed somehow comfortable. Across the room, Marie heard laughter, and looked to see a shortish girl with long dark hair talking to a taller brown haired guy. As they approached, the girl addressed Mole,

            "S'up Mole?" she asked, looking over the new comers.

            "Found these two skulking round the outskirts. Say they wanna speak to someone in charge. I figured that'd be you." He didn't seem too pleased about it.

            "Ok." She said, as Ella muttered,

            "We weren't skulking." The dark haired girl grinned as she heard this.

            "S'ok Mole, we'll take it from here. She led the two girls into a room off the side, the brown haired guy following behind. She indicated for them to take a seat and they did so. The girl perched on the back of another chair, and Marie got the feeling that this girl would rarely just sit normally. "So, what's the dealio?" she asked Marie. "What are you doing in terminal city? Cos I'm pretty sure you're not transgenic."

            "No, not transgenic. But we're not regular people either." 

            "What's your name?" the girl asked. Marie hesitated, before giving the same answer she'd given Mole. 

            "I'm Max. That's Alec." Max said with a half smile. "Now something tells me those aren't your real names." Marie smiled, she liked this girl already.

            "Kinda code-names. You can never be too careful, right?"

            "Right." Max agreed. "Now, to why you're here."

            "Right." Marie nodded. "We need help. We got a whole loada peeps back home who are in a bad way. We got no supplies, no bedding, and no one to provide. People don't look to kindly on our kind."

            "Did ya look around as you came in?" Max asked. "And what kind?" Marie took a deep breath,

            "Mutants."

            "Mutants?" Alec scoffed. Ella rolled her eyes,

            "Yeah mutants. Not transgenics, but natural mutants. People who were born with the x-factor gene, which causes mutations far bigger than the government ever managed in a lab. From what I've heard, even though few people know it, the idea behind Manticore was to create soldiers that could match our strength, wipe us out."

            "Whoa. How long have you guys been around?" Max asked.

            "No one knows for sure. A long time." Marie replied.

            "Shit. I had no idea." Max gasped. "So what, are you mostly like us, stronger, faster…"

            "Uh-uh." Ella smiled. "Like I said. The x-factor mutations are a helluva lot more advanced than those cooked up in the Manticore labs."

            "Like what?" Alec said, disbelief clear in his tone. Marie just glanced at Ella, who grinned, and turned. Alec yelled, and jumped back as the Panthers front paws hit the ground. Max just starred, wide eyed.

            "Oh my god. Shape shifters!?" Ella 'shifted back, and sat down again.

            "That's nothing. You should see what Rie here can do." Marie flashed her a look when she used her name. Max rolled her eyes

            "Ok, stop with the paranoid, k? If you're asking for help, here, we might as well know your names."

            "Sorry." Marie conceded. "Ah'm Marie, she's Ella."

            "Why'd you have code names anyway?"

            "Kinda a long story. You ever heard of the X-men?" 

            "Yeah, well, rumours. They're meant to be superheroes or something…" Alec laughed, then caught Marie's gaze. "Oh." He finished.

            "Yeah, well, that's why the code names. It was more the last generation, y'know our parents. But we still take the name. Problem is people really don't want us around anymore."

            "I know the feeling." Max smiled sympathetically. "They're scared of things that are different."

            "Oh yeah."

            "So what are your powers?" Alec asked Marie. She smiled,

            "Ah can't 'shift or anything, but I got a whole buncha powers cos I had two mutant parents. It doesn't always work that way, but for me…Well, I got this." She took a playing card from her pocket, and it began to glow pink. Then it faded and she continued speaking. "If Ah charge things enough, they explode. Very useful for makeshift grenades. Other than that, my Mamma's power is to absorb the powers and memories of other mutants, so I got that."

            "And the other stuff." Ella prompted.

            "Mah Mamma had some other powers cos she once accidentally absorbed someone's powers permanently. She wanted me to have them too, so Ah absorbed some o' them from her. I can control the process, even though until just before Ah was born, mah Mamma couldn't. So, cos o' that, I'm real strong,"

            "Practically invincible." Ella murmured.

            "And…. Ah can fly."

            "Fly!?" both Max and Alec exclaimed. The mutants laughed.

            "Yeah." Marie smiled, "Hence the Firefly thing."

            "Wow." Max said, with a shake of her head. "Damn. You gotta show me that sometime." 

N.B. I know Rogue's power probably wouldn't work like that, but I wanted Marie to have all those powers, so deal with it.


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